Summary
Thanks so much for following along today. We’ll leave it there for now. But first, here are today’s headlines.
- NSW has scrapped plans to allow thousands of frontline workers to watch Sydney’s NYE fireworks on the foreshore. Outdoor gatherings have been reduced to 50 people for 31 December and people will need a permit to visit the CBD. Some local mayors were critical of the proposed rules. Read more about the rules here.
- Stay-at-home restrictions will also be in place in the northern zone of the northern beaches until 9 January, the government announced.
- Five new cases were recorded in NSW today, as one epidemiologist warned existing mystery cases were a cause for concern.
- Victoria went another day without a local case, as it confirmed it would keep its border shut to greater Sydney over the New Year period.
- The health minister Greg Hunt said he expected all Australians to be vaccinated by October, adding that the country’s preparations were ahead of schedule.
- Golfing legend Greg Norman revealed he is back in hospital with Covid-19.
- Also in sport, Roger Federer announced he would miss the upcoming Australia Open in Melbourne.
NSW reveals new hotspots
NSW Health has added to its list of hotspots. The details below.
Anyone who visited any of the following venues at the listed times is considered a casual contact who should monitor for symptoms, and if they appear, immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received:
- Bondi Beach: Woolworths Metro, 184 Campbell parade, Sunday, 20 December, 5pm-6pm
- Edgecliff: Coles, New South Head road and Ocean avenue, Sunday, 20 December, 7pm-7.30pm
- Sydney: Kinokuniya Sydney, 500 George street, Sunday, 20 December, 3pm-3.45pm
- Sydney: David Jones, 86-108 Castlereagh street, Sunday, 20 December, 2.10pm-2.45pm
- Sydney: Uniqlo, MidCity Centre, Level 1, 197 Pitt Street Mall, Sunday, 20 December, 4pm-4.15pm
Anyone who took any of the following transport routes is considered a casual contact who should monitor for symptoms, and if they appear, immediately get tested and isolate until a negative result is received:
- Route 333: Monday, 21 December, 7.30pm-7.45pm, Bondi Junction Station, Bondi Beach, Campbell parade, Stand C
- Route 333: Tuesday, 22 December, 9.45am-10am, Bondi Beach, Campbell parade, Stand A, Bondi Junction Station
- Route 333: Wednesday, 23 December, 9am-10am, Bondi Beach, Campbell parade, Stand A, Taylor Square, Oxford St, Stand A
- Route 333, Wednesday, 23 December, 10.40am-11.30am, Taylor Square, Oxford Street , Stand D, Bondi Beach, Campbell Pde, Stand C
- T1 North Shore Line: Wednesday, 16 December, 1pm-1.09pm, North Sydney, Wynyard
- T1 North Shore Line: Wednesday, 16 December, 8.16am-9.05am, Waitara, Wynyard
- T1 North Shore Line: Wednesday, 16 December, 4.52pm-5.31pm, Wynyard, Waitara
- T1 North Shore Line: Thursday, 17 December, 8.17am-9.01am, Waitara, Wynyard
- T1 North Shore Line: Thursday, 17 December, 6.40pm-7.22pm, Wynyard, Waitara, Monday, 21 December, 7pm-7.30pm, Redfern via Town Hall to Bondi Junction Tuesday, 22 December 10.05am-10.35am Bondi Junction via Town Hall to Redfern
Updated
We’ve also received some further information from Queensland Health.
There were five cases recorded today, all among return travellers in hotel quarantine.
Authorities have also said that two cases detected on the Lady E superyacht have been determined as historical cases. They are no longer considered active infections. We reported on those cases here, including comments from the captain of the vessel insisting all onboard were cooperating with authorities.
Queensland Health said today:
Serology tests showed that both cases had antibodies from a previous recovered infection of Covid-19. They are no longer infectious.
All other crew from the Lady E have also been tested and returned negative results.
All crew members from the Lady E will continue to quarantine to fulfil the required 14-day quarantine period.
The crew will continue to be monitored for any symptoms during the remainder of their quarantine period.
Updated
Some further details on those fines issued by NSW police.
A police statement said officers were called to a venue on Pirrama Road, Pyrmont, about 5pm yesterday after a tip off to Crime Stoppers.
“After speaking with staff and attendees, police recorded contact details for more than a dozen guests, who are Northern Beaches residents,” the statement said.
Fines were issued to the following people:
- a man and woman, both aged 43, from Allambie Heights
- a 33-year-old woman from Narraweena
- a 27-year-old man from Frenches Forest, and
- three women – aged 19, 22 and 28 – and two men – aged 23 and 63 – all from Beacon Hill.
Police said they also expected to issue $1,000 fines to a 34-year-old man and a 36-year-old woman, both from Frenchs Forest, and a 26-year-old man from Beacon Hill.
Be careful, folks.
UPDATE:
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 28, 2020
⚡Detailed Severe Thunderstorm Warning⚡
For DAMAGING WINDS, LARGE HAILSTONES and HEAVY RAINFALL.
Cells are tracking through parts of the #Sydney, the #BlueMountains / #Hawkesbury and #Gosford / #Wyong areas.https://t.co/cqcVs4bz12 pic.twitter.com/yLMv0U1dEE
A woman found dead in her Launceston bedroom is a murder victim, police say.
Detectives on Monday confirmed the case of homicide after the 49-year-old was found on Saturday, reports AAP.
A man, 27, and a 25-year-old woman from Germany, were arrested over the crime and the former has been charged with murder. The woman has been released without charge.
It’s believed that a postmortem examination of the woman’s body was needed to confirm the suspicious nature of death.
Investigators previously called for dashcam footage or witnesses who were near the property on Wellington Street.
Updated
A “concerning” number of mystery Covid-19 cases in New South Wales is “akin to a smouldering forest fire” that could suddenly flare up, an epidemiologist has said.
Melissa Davey has more.
BREAKING: Nine infringement notices issued after 12 northern beaches residents attended a wedding reception in Pyrmont last night. Three more expected to be issued today. @newscomauHQ
— Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) December 28, 2020
Can only feel grateful for these 59 days free of community transmission. My extended family in the UK going through some tough times, anxiously awaiting vaccine rollout. https://t.co/SxKgMmM4eL
— Chief Health Officer, Victoria (@VictorianCHO) December 27, 2020
WA records three new cases in hotel quarantine
The Western Australia Department of Health has today reported three new cases of Covid-19 in Western Australia, bringing the State’s total to 858.
But a media statement says those confirmed three cases – a man in his 40s, a woman in her 50s and a woman in her 20s – are all in hotel quarantine and all related to overseas travel.
Australia’s Test tour of South Africa is looking increasingly unlikely after the country recorded 1 million cases of Covid-19 as a new variant of the coronavirus emerged.
Australia are set for a three-Test tour in mid-February, but a number of hurdles must be cleared before it can be ticked off, reports AAP.
Cricket Australia is still working closely with its South African counterpart on a possible plan to cover logistical, safety and biosecurity concerns.
Issues that plagued the recently abandoned England tour, where local players and hotel staff were infected, would need to be addressed.
Publicly, CA is committed to doing all it can to have the tour go ahead while mindful of a strong duty of care to its players.
However, with the departure date six weeks away, the reality is that time is fast running out.
South Africa on Monday became the 18th country to register 1 million confirmed Covid cases, with daily numbers equivalent to the June peak.
Medical experts have also expressed fears over what they believe is a more contagious variant of the virus sweeping the country.
Interim Australian Cricketers Association boss Joe Connellan said he expected CA to take a cautious approach around the tour.
Cricket Australia do come from this from a very conservative position and you can see with the tightness of the current of protocols,” Connellan said.
Pat Cummins was on the record very recently saying that players are at a level of anxiousness around this.
And a reminder you can follow our live coverage of the second Test between Australia and India here.
Updated
BREAKING: Richard Pusey facing new charges after police called to his Fitzroy home last night. Charges include threats to kill and assault. @newscomauHQ pic.twitter.com/u3sbYcM8Wj
— Rohan Smith (@Ro_Smith) December 28, 2020
ACT Police are looking for a man who JUMPED INTO LAKE BURLEY GRIFFIN at 1.15am to avoid being arrested. Last seen 100m offshore from Kings Avenue (it's not clear which side of the lake) https://t.co/mUJMCfX5zh
— Katina Curtis (@katinacurtis) December 28, 2020
The car the man was travelling in was seen by police in connection to a fail to stop incident and pursuit for other traffic and property related matters.
A police statement said a man and a woman had fled the car. She was arrested by police a short time later.
Police chased the man on foot and “he jumped into Lake Burley Griffin”. Maritime and helicopter search and rescue teams were called in but attempts to find the man failed.
ACT police detective superintendent Scott Moller said:
Visibility at that time of the morning was poor, so we also undertook a thorough search of the area that he was last seen to find more information about the incident.
There are several persons of interest who we have identified as connected to this incident, and will be continuing our enquiries, which includes speaking to witnesses. I expect there will be further charges laid in the future.
Updated
David Littleproud calls on states to fill fruit-picking labour shortages
Fresh produce will fall to the ground and rot unless state governments allow more workers to enter the country to fill fruit-picking labour shortages, the agriculture minister has said.
David Littleproud used an interview with the ABC today to call on the states to offer more flexibility, saying so far only 1,500 people had come to Australia out of the 22,000 workers from 10 Pacific nations who had been pre-vetted by the federal government.
That’s been predicated on the fact that the states haven’t allowed extra numbers to come in because they’ve maintained the quarantine caps in each of their jurisdictions.
Littleproud credited Queensland with being “a little novel in terms of how they’ve brought people in” and allowing them to quarantine on farms rather than in motel rooms. While he said he respected the states’ sovereignty, “we’re now saying to them, it’s time-critical”.
We’re at a the juncture, particularly for you in the southern states, in Victoria in particular, that unless something happens now, unless you find a mechanism for quarantining, then our farmers are going to have a lot of their crop to fall on the ground and rot, or they’ll simply plough it in … We are saying to [the states]: now’s the time to actually pull the trigger, otherwise you’re going to pay for it at the checkout.
That’s a reference to the fact that the federal government’s agricultural forecaster has predicted fruit and vegetable prices could rise in Australia due to Covid-19 travel restrictions limiting labour available for harvesting. We reported last month that prices of summer vegetables, stone fruit, apples, pears, and table grapes were forecast to rise by between 15% and 25%.
Littleproud also conceded that the government’s domestic fruit-picking relocation scheme wasn’t going to solve the labour shortages. Asked how many Australians had accessed the $6,000 incentive to date, he said:
Look, only in the hundreds, three or 400 at the moment. And we didn’t expect that to be the panacea, but all these jobs have to be market tested first. Australians get first [chance].
For more information on the issues in the fruit picking industry in Australia, see this recent feature by Elias Visontay:
Updated
A man on a house boat has been charged after allegedly opening fire on a jet ski rider in southern NSW.
The 51-year-old man, who holds a firearm licence in Victoria, is accused of shooting at the 23-year-old man, who was riding the jet ski on the Murray River near Moama about 4pm on Sunday.
NSW police subsequently raided the house boat and a Moama home, allegedly seizing three guns, ammunition and cannabis.
The 51-year-old was charged with firearm offences including firing a gun in a public place, and was refused bail at Wagga Wagga local court on Monday.
He’ll face the same court on 2 January, AAP reports.
Updated
Some political fights don’t stop for the holiday season.
Dear @ATO_gov_au, I know you have a keen interest in preventing fraud. Your site says superannuation release is only for those “adversely financially affected by COVID-19”. Is my Liberal colleague encouraging people to break the law by accessing super to buy a home? #auspol https://t.co/jyuSamkQu4
— Andrew Leigh (@ALeighMP) December 28, 2020
As I noted earlier, there is some wild weather on the way in NSW.
AAP has more details below.
Large chunks of greater Sydney and NSW’s central west are set for damaging winds and large hailstones as part of a severe thunderstorm.
The Bureau of Meteorology on Monday afternoon issued a severe thunderstorm warning for Sydney and parts of the Illawarra, Hunter and the Central Tablelands which could linger for most of the afternoon.
The bureau later extended the storm-prone area to NSW’s Central West Slopes and Plains, as well as parts of the Southern Tablelands.
The State Emergency Service advised that cars in affected areas should be moved away from trees and loose items should be secured. People should stay at least eight metres from fallen power lines.
A severe thunderstorm cell was on Monday afternoon also moving in a northeasterly direction from western Sydney to the NSW Central Coast.
A Bom meteorologist, Helen Reid, said earlier on Monday that storms had already been recorded across NSW’s north and east, with gusts reaching 80km/h.
Some rain-hit areas could receive up to 30mm of rain on Monday.
“We do have a beautiful summer situation where we have a lot of moisture feeding in from the tropics,” Reid said in a statement.
“The tropical convergence zone has moved into the southern hemisphere, bringing that moisture closer to us, and with an inland trough over NSW just directing that moisture over us, it’s going to hang around for a few days.”
Most of coastal NSW is also subject to a strong marine wind warning.
Reid said more thunderstorms would occur on Tuesday in north-east NSW, but a southerly change would ease conditions in NSW’s south and west.
Updated
Off-contract NRL player Jamil Hopoate has been charged with assault, intimidation and drink driving offences on the NSW mid-north coast.
The 26-year-old was arrested on Sunday evening at premises in Bay Street, Port Macquarie after allegations of an assault, reports AAP.
Hopoate was subsequently charged with three counts of common assault, two of stalking or intimidation with intent to cause fear of physical harm and one charge of mid-range drink driving.
He was granted conditional bail to appear at Port Macquarie local court on 20 January.
Updated
Greg Norman returns to hospital for further Covid treatment
Greg Norman has returned to hospital for further Covid-19 treatment.
The Australian golfing great was admitted on Christmas Day but returned home to self-isolate on Saturday while he waited for the results of a test.
But he said in a new Instagram post:
I hope this will be my final update on this Covid saga ... back in hospital after getting a positive result.
The path to full recovery. Hoping to be out later today.
According to Reuters, Norman said the “hideous” virus had “kicked the crap out of me like nothing I have ever experienced before”. That was despite Norman saying he had a high pain tolerance.
He said:
Muscle and joint pain on another level. Headaches that feel like a chisel going through your head scraping little bits off each time, fever, muscles that just did not want to work.
Then my taste failed, where beer tastes bad and wine the same ... at times struggling with memory of names and things.
Updated
Jason Falinski, the Liberal MP whose federal seat of Mackellar takes in part of Sydney’s locked-down northern beaches, has renewed his calls for any tourists who were at mass gatherings on Christmas to be deported.
Falinski said that while he doesn’t “think it’s very likely” to eventuate, “a lot of people up here (on the northern beaches) are very angry about it”.
Falinski told Sky News this morning:
We’re up here, we had not a great Christmas, we made the best of it, that’s for sure. But it wasn’t a great Christmas...but then to turn around and see what I understand were mostly backpackers if not entirely backpackers [at the mass gathering].
That’s why the other day I called on them, potentially for us to look at them asking them to leave the country ... If you’re here in this country, as a guest in effect to this country, and we’ve done an incredibly good job in 2020 of managing this pandemic.
To do that was just extraordinary. And I think most Australians looked at it and just went why would you do that?
Especially for people here on the Northern Beaches who’ve done so much in so little time to try and get this pandemic under control so that the rest of the country including ourselves can return to some normality ... it was a kick in the guts.
On Saturday, Falinski told the Northern Beaches Advocate:
They obviously think they can just pack up and leave if things take a turn for the worse. They have decided to party here while the world weathers the global Covid storm.
With thousands of Australians stranded overseas right now, and near empty planes going over to pick them up, I say we should fill some of those seats.
I will be calling on my government to request the identity of these people from state authorities, using facial recognition technology to compare with their passports if necessary. Their visas should be cancelled and they should be deported immediately.
Updated
In non-Covid news, China’s latest trade ban has sparked a union call for the overhaul of the Australian timber industry.
AAP reports that a senior CFMEU official, Michael O’Connor, said last week’s suspension of timber exports from NSW and WA showed it was time to take immediate action.
He called on the federal government and states to pitch in with short-term aid but added the only long-term solution will be to make the local industry more self-reliant.
The current export ban by China highlights that we, as a country, have been too reliant on exporting our raw resources,” said O’Connor, the CFMEU’s national secretary for manufacturing.
We should be processing our raw resources here, generating more jobs and better economic and social outcomes for our country.
China said it suspended imports of NSW and WA after finding pests in the cargo.
It follows previous suspensions of timber shipments from Victoria, Queensland, Tasmania and SA amid strained relations between Canberra and Beijing.
Updated
Take care if you’re in one of the affected areas.
#NSWweather: Severe thunderstorm warning for damaging winds and large hailstones. Warning details https://t.co/ZKgxhbBJo6 pic.twitter.com/6dJrVo5kRv
— Bureau of Meteorology, New South Wales (@BOM_NSW) December 28, 2020
For those confused about NYE restrictions:
— Naaman Zhou (@naamanzhou) December 28, 2020
- The CBD restrictions actually include large parts of North Sydney
- The "green zone" is the most restricted zone
- You can go to your local park but many council parks are closed
More here: https://t.co/CsjeOx6mBB pic.twitter.com/82RmqIEQcp
Martin Foley also responded to reports about a man who was arrested for leaving hotel quarantine in Melbourne.
The man has claimed in media interviews he should not have been in quarantine because he was a Victorian resident who had crossed the border in time to avoid being held in a hotel.
He said he had tried to leave because of his growing anxiety while in quarantine and what he claimed were mixed messages from hotel staff.
Foley said:
I understand what the gentleman asserts and the facts of the matter, as they’re available to me, clearly indicate this gentleman was a resident of the Sydney red zones and unequivocally was required to spend 14 days in hotel quarantine.
In this case the system worked, the gentleman was properly advised, and he was ill-advised to try to leave hotel quarantine.
He now faces the prospect of significant fines and I would urge everybody to stay safe, to follow the rules, particularly if you are required to do hotel quarantine.
Updated
Victorian border remains shut to NSW over NYE
Victoria has confirmed its border with NSW will stay shut for New Year’s Eve as the northern beaches cluster continues to spark new cases.
Martin Foley, the Victorian health minister, said the border would stay closed for the next week, reports AAP:
It’s certainly not going to be this week and we’ll continue to take the advice of public health officials as to when that [reopening] will be the case.
There is no chance of the borders reopening for New Year’s Eve ... we want to make sure those borders, particularly to the red zones of Sydney and the Central Coast, stay shut down.
Foley would not say when he thought those borders might reopen. The border closures apply to those coming from Greater Sydney and the Central Coast.
Victoria has two new coronavirus cases among returned travellers in hotel quarantine. The infection of a woman in her 20s and a child aged 10 takes the number of active cases in the state to 11.
But Victoria is also nearing a two-month milestone for no cases of community transmission, after marking its 59-day streak on Monday. Of the 11 active cases, 10 are in hotel quarantine.
Updated
Sarah Scully, of the Bureau of Meterology, says the wild weather that hit Melbourne and parts of Victoria last night is now moving its up the east coast.
It means today there could be “severe thunderstorms across northern New South Wales and also for the interior of Queensland and Northern Queensland”.
Scully told the ABC:
In fact, there is a severe thunderstorm warning out at the moment before a particular thunderstorm cell in the north-west interior of Queensland with heavy rainfall.
But it looks like there will be multiple days of showery and thunderstorm conditions across parts of northern New South Wales, the east coast and the Queensland interior and Northern Queensland and, of right across the tropics of the northern Australia over the coming days as we approach the new year.
Scully says the forecast suggests showers and possible thunderstorms from Queensland through New South Wales and into northern and north-eastern Victoria for New Year’s Eve.
Updated
Hunt expects all Australians to be vaccinated by October
The federal health minister has ended his press conference in Victoria by saying he believes all Australians will be vaccinated by October between the three different vaccines.
The vaccine will be free and entirely voluntary, Greg Hunt said:
We want to urge as many Australians to be vaccinated and we’ve seen some very heartening reports over the weekend of an expected uptake of up to 80%.
We would like to see as many Australians as possible be vaccinated, but in order to do that, they have to have the confidence that our regulators are making sure that every safety step is taken, and we’re ticking all of those boxes just a little bit earlier than expected.
Updated
Thanks Elias and hello to you all. Luke Henriques-Gomes here, I’ll be sharing the afternoon with you.
If you want to get in touch, you can send me an email at luke.henriques-gomes@theguardian.com
Let’s get into it.
It’s been a busy morning with NSW’s five new coronavirus cases and New Year’s Eve rule announcement, health minister Greg Hunt speaking about Australia’s Covid-19 vaccine program, and Roger Federer ruining everyone’s 2021 with the news he has pulled out of the upcoming Australian Open.
I’ll be handing the blog over to my colleague Luke Henriques-Gomes, who will take you through the next part of the afternoon.
Have a great afternoon.
Updated
In non-coronavirus news, the Australian government says its new fleet of joint strike fighter jets has passed an important milestone.
Australia’s F-35A Lightning II fleet can now be deployed on operations, according to a statement issued by the defence minister, Linda Reynolds, who says the aircraft has been cleared today as having “Initial Operational Capability”.
Australia has committed to buying 72 F-35A aircraft at a cost of about $16.6bn. The first of these Lockheed Martin-produced aircraft arrived in Australia in 2018 and the 30th arrived in September 2020.
The deadline for all 72 to be fully operational is 2023, the defence department says, but the project has previously been criticised for cost overruns and technical problems.
Reynolds said today the F-35s were “the most advanced, multi-role stealth fighter in the world”.
For the last two years, Defence has rigorously tested the F-35A fleet to assess aircraft and system performance, and declare this important milestone.
I would like to thank everyone that has worked so hard to get us to this point; to have accomplished all the required testing and materiel delivery is remarkable.
Reynolds added that Covid-19 had presented some difficulties, as identified in a recent Australian National Audit Office report. She said:
While 2020 presented significant challenges to all of us, and travel restrictions made it difficult to ferry our aircraft to Australia, the huge efforts of Defence, industry and our partners in the United States made today’s achievement possible.
Updated
Government to stick by March timeframe for vaccine
Greg Hunt says 3.8m doses of the Astra Zeneca/Oxford vaccine are expected to be ready before the end of February, with the first steps in production of the first batch already complete.
He said this vaccine, combined with the Pfizer one and the NovaVax one should give “great hope to Australians”.
I think it will be a good new year for Australians, and also a safe and healthy new year.
Asked if there was any likelihood of the vaccine being rolled out before March, Hunt says “we are in the hands of the data”.
This data, to be provided by the pharma companies to Australian regulators, can be more than 100,000 pages, and the final data for the Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines is expected to come in around January and February.
The Australian drugs regulator will then do a 14 day safety test of the first batches, something Hunt says he does not want to bypass, especially since our situation is not as urgent or dire as that of other countries.
We will stick by our March timeframe but our goal is to under promise and overdeliver.
You can read more about the vaccines and rollouts here:
And here:
Updated
There are two important developments with regards to the Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine, the federal health minister Greg Hunt has said.
He said the government, though it expects to roll-out the vaccine from March, would rather “over promise and under deliver” than put false hope on a vaccine becoming available sooner.
On the Oxford/ AstraZeneca vaccine he says:
First, it’s not just on track, but we are hopeful that we will have both domestic production and international import ahead of schedule. And I think that’s reassuring, reaffirming, and an important point of hope.
Secondly, that the progress through the international regulators is also ahead of where I had previously understood it to be. The results are good. And I think that’s the important thing. They don’t have all of the data in yet, but the results are good.
And that means that we will have, subject to our Australian regulators agreeing, a safe, effective, and plentiful vaccine. But we are ahead of schedule.
Australia has acquired three vaccines which it hopes to roll out next year, and Hunt said all were promising and on track.
Updated
Greg Hunt says Australia's vaccine program is 'on track and ahead of schedule'
The federal health minister Greg Hunt is holding a press conference at Mount Martha, Victoria, where he has said Australia’s vaccine program “is on track and ahead of schedule”.
The Oxford/AstraZeneca vaccine is progressing well both in terms of results and in terms of its passage through the UK, US and European processes.
They [AstraZeneca/Oxford University] have submitted additional data within Australia and we’re expecting the final data for consideration in late January to February.
He said analysis of the data supporting the Pfizer vaccine should be complete about the same time.
Our Pfizer contract has been completed with the confirmation of distribution to Australia also locked in over the course of Christmas.
On the situation in NSW Hunt said:
Stay safe, stay out of the Sydney CBD.
The premier could not have been clearer ... we support and reaffirm that advice.
Hunt added that people must continue to get tested.
Updated
Doctors in Western Australia have called for a more “humane” quarantine system with access to fresh air after a woman who described her experience as “traumatic” fled hotel quarantine and was later found by police.
Jenny Maree D’ubios hadn’t completed mandatory 14-day quarantine after arriving from overseas when she absconded on Saturday morning.
WA police found her overnight at Rockingham hospital, south-west of Perth. She has been charged with failing to comply with a direction under the Emergency Management Act.
WA’s acting premier, Roger Cook, said D’ubios, who described her quarantine experience as “traumatic” on social media, had since returned a negative Covid-19 test result.
Here’s a summary of the restrictions announced by Gladys Berejiklian this morning.
Northern beaches lockdowns:
The lockdowns will be extended, until 9 January for the northern section, and at least until 2 January for the southern section, at which date authorities will look to incorporate that zone into the greater Sydney region for restrictions.
Greater Sydney:
Outdoor gathering limits have been tightened, from 100 down to 50 people.
New Year’s Eve and Day rules:
Residents on the northern beaches will have one further reason to leave their home on New Year’s Eve – to visit an in-home gathering. Five visitors are allowed to homes in the northern section, ten are allowed in the southern section. Visitors can only visit homes within the same section they live.
The CBD frontline worker fireworks vantage point offering is cancelled.
Hospitality venues will remain open but must adhere to the one person per four square metres rule.
Council events may continue but they must be controlled and seated with no mingling, and record keeping requirements must be strictly adhered to.
A short, seven minute fireworks display will continue at midnight.
Unless you have a New Year’s Eve Pass through Service NSW, you will not be able to enter designated zones around Circular Quay, North Sydney and the city.
Updated
All this political agony over NYE in Sydney yet they don’t mandate masks which would reduce risk. Hard to understand the reasoning.
— Norman Swan (@normanswan) December 27, 2020
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has asked NSW residents to exercise “absolute restraint” at midnight on Thursday and to not kiss or hug anyone.
When the clock ticks over to midnight from 31 December to 1 January, I know that’s normally an emotional time where we like to kiss and hug everybody around us. Can I ask for absolute restraint.
Berejiklian also clarified the rules for fireworks in Sydney.
There’ll be local spots where ordinarily thousands of people can gather. Now, that can’t happen.
She said events on the foreshore or at local parks organised by councils, which have managed numbers and record contact information, are fine to proceed.
She also said unmanaged events at smaller parks are also fine, if social distancing and gathering limits are observed.
If there’s a local park or a local venue that some people go to look at the fireworks or to have a picnic, that is OK so long as everybody is Covid-safe.
If it’s not the regular big foreshore area but you might have an oval, sometimes there’s ovals across Sydney which might have access to viewing, that is OK so long as you stick to groups of depending on where you are, gatherings of no more than five or 10 if you’re on the northern beaches, larger ones are allowed in greater Sydney.
But please exercise common sense. What is a concern is when the various groups converge and form big groups.
I think we can all tell the difference between those major areas where thousands of people would normally converge versus the local park or the local oval that might have access.
Updated
Chief health officer Kerry Chant said the death of a man in his 70s earlier this week from “respiratory complications” following a Covid-19 infection in March is a reminder of the long-term impacts of the virus.
He was a household contact for locally-acquired case and although his death is considered to be related to Covid, so that’s based on the doctors completing a death certificate as to the cause of death, he had recently tested negative and was no longer infectious and posed no risk to the community.
I think this highlights the fact that sometimes the complications can be so severe that the lung damage and other complications arising from Covid, that that can subsequently be the cause of death many months later.
NSW has now recorded 56 deaths from confirm Covid-19 cases.
Updated
The Sydney tradition of camping out at vantage points around the harbour ahead of New Year’s Eve, is banned.
Gladys Berejiklian said:
The only way you’ll be allowed to access those commonly frequented foreshore venues is if there is a formal event or formal level of consideration provided by the local council.
You cannot just, unfortunately, pick up and go along to those frequently attended venues without a controlled and ticketed event.
Our strong advice to families and communities is we cannot have people congregate in those large numbers we normally see along those foreshore areas.
Updated
People entering Sydney CBD on New Year's Eve must have permit, premier says
Gladys Berejiklian reiterates the rules for Sydney’s central business district on New Year’s Eve.
You cannot come to the CBD on New Year’s Eve unless you have a booking from a hospitality venue, but even if you have a booking, you have to get a permit through Service New South Wales to prove you got that booking.
All hospitality venues, though, can I stress, will be subject to the four square metre rule, not the two square metre rule.
If you live in the CBD, you’re allowed to have up to 10 people in your home but those 10 people have to have a permit through Service New South Wales and you need to log in.
If you live in the CBD, you need to log in with Service New South Wales and provide the names of the 10 people coming to your home.
We apologise that we have to be so strict, but this is to keep everybody safe. You can’t just because you feel like it jump on a bus or a train and come to the CBD on New Year’s Eve. That’s not the go.
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Gladys Berejiklian is asked about local council-organised events for New Year’s Eve.
We’re saying to local council areas, local government, who may have organised events for New Year’s Eve, unless it’s controlled, ticketed and seated, we don’t recommend those events going on.
Some of the functions that were organised in suburbs and surrounding local council areas which managed to have events which are ticketed, seated, controlled with good records of who’s coming in and out. If the councils can guarantee that, that’s a matter for them.
But certainly we can’t guarantee that in the CBD and we don’t think it’s safe to have so many people congregate from all over the state in the Sydney CBD given what’s happening which is why we have abandoned our plans in terms of any foreshore viewing of the fireworks from the Sydney CBD.
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Kerry Chant is asked about the Belrose Hotel, as well as to compare the northern beaches cluster to the Crossroads Hotel cluster the state successfully contained months ago.
Chant said authorities are pursuing other people in the cluster with early onsets of illness to determine the cause behind the cluster’s first transmission. But she said those inquiries haven’t “led us anywhere”.
She said the number of cases at the Belrose, and serological testing, are “quite strong and justify the focus we’re having on the hotel”.
Chant said authorities learned a lot about containing outbreaks from their experience at the Crossroads Hotel.
I think it’s important to know that when Crossroads occurred, at that time, there were large numbers of cases in Victoria and hence that posed additional challenges where notwithstanding borders were introduced, no border is an absolute barrier.
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New year's eve restrictions for the northern beaches, greater Sydney and NSW @GuardianAus pic.twitter.com/DFHZXCiD1A
— Elias Visontay (@EliasVisontay) December 28, 2020
It hasn’t yet been mentioned at this press conference, but a man in his 70s died earlier this week from respiratory complications following a Covid-19 infection diagnosed in March.
He was a household contact of a locally acquired case, a NSW Health statement said.
Although his death is considered to be related to Covid-19, he had recently tested negative, was no longer infectious and posed no risk to the community. NSW Health extends its sympathies to his family.
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NSW health minister Brad Hazzard stressing the importance of venues collecting correct details of visitors.
He reiterates the state government’s Service NSW QR code system will be mandatory for all businesses from 1 January.
Hazzard said:
I want to stress that you have a quieter period right now to get on to doing that and you need to do it.
Quite apart from anything else, even if you don’t want do it out of goodwill, there’s a $5,000 fine attached if you don’t have those Service New South Wales QR codes by the 1st of January.
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Chief health officer Kerry Chant is now breaking down the numbers.
The five new cases recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Sunday came from 15,364 tests – a decline from the 23,933 the previous day, and a steep drop off from the roughly 70,000 tests recorded on Christmas Eve.
The northern beaches cluster has grown to 126.
Four of the locally acquired cases are linked to the Avalon cluster.
The fifth local case is linked to a previously reported case on the northern beaches whose source of infection is not yet linked to the Avalon cluster and remains under investigation.
All five locally acquired cases reported today had previously been identified as contacts of known cases and were in isolation.
Chant urges Sydneysiders to get tested, and reiterates a plea for anyone who visited the Belrose Hotel at any time in December to come forward for testing
Anyone who attended the Belrose Hotel at any time in December and had symptoms that could be compatible with Covid, we’re asking you to come forward for testing.
This is part of the detective work to better understand how the cluster has emerged in the northern beaches. The Belrose Hotel has not yet been linked to the Avalon cluster, but there are now three cases that have attended this venue.
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Northern beaches lockdown extended
Gladys Berejiklian has announced the lockdowns for Sydney’s northern beaches will be extended.
The northern section of the northern beaches – which has seen more coronavirus activity – will have its lockdown extended until 9 January. On New Year’s Eve households will be able to welcome five visitors, and all must come from within the northern zone.
The southern section of the northern beaches will have its lockdown extended until the 2 January, with Berejiklian saying she hopes to incorporate this zone into the greater Sydney zone (to benefit from its more relaxed restrictions) from 2 January.
On New Year’s Eve households will be able to welcome 10 visitors, and all must come from within the southern zone.
Berejiklian said:
Whilst we’re seeing the trends go the way we hope they do, there are still too many concerning aspects for us ... [and] not really being able to identify what we call the intermediaries, those unlinked cases, for us to really ease restrictions in the way that we know that the northern beaches community wanted us to do so.
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Restrictions tightened, not eased, for Sydney's New Year's Eve
New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian has delivered a blow to the New Year’s Eve plans for Sydneysiders.
For greater Sydney, nothing changes. The arrangements are the same. So on New Year’s Eve, you can’t have more than 10 people in your home. That includes children. So you can have up to 10 people in your home if you’re from greater Sydney, but no more than that.
However, we are reducing outdoor gatherings to 50 rather than 100 across-the-board. When I say across-the-board, I mean greater Sydney.
So at this point in time, you could have an outdoor gathering of 100. We’re reducing that to 50. If you want an outdoor BBQ or picnic, you can do so up to 50 people.
All of us, no matter where we are in NSW or Australia, in the world for that matter, can enjoy the seven minute display from home and that is the safest way this year to enjoy the fireworks.”
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Gladys Berejiklian is announcing coronavirus rules for New Year’s Eve.
The state will cancel the places along the foreshore allocated to frontline workers from across the state to watch the fireworks.
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NSW records five new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases
There have been five new locally-acquired Covid-19 cases.
Gladys Berejiklian said “all of them (are) on the northern beaches and all of them obviously associated in one way or another with the Avalon cluster”.
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New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian is expected to provide a Covid-19 update shortly.
I’ll bring you the latest from that here.
Federer pulls out of Australian Open
Roger Federer has pulled the pin on the Australian Open, his long-time manager Tony Godsick has announced.
Federer has not played a tournament since January at the 2020 Australian Open, where he was clearly injured, and has since had two operations on his right knee and slipped to world No 5.
Earlier this month the 39-year-old said that even the delayed start to the season’s first major – on 8 February instead of 19 January – may not be enough time, though he is training in his usual off-season home of Dubai.
Godsick said in a statement sent to the Associated Press:
Roger has decided not to play the 2021 Australian Open,
He has made strong progress in the last couple of months with his knee and his fitness.
However, after consultation with his team, he decided that the best decision for him in the long run is to return to competitive tennis after the Australian Open.
It comes as Tennis Australia announced Andy Murray has been given a wildcard entry. The former No 1 is ranked 122nd following his own injury pain of two hip operations that had him considering retirement.
Australia’s Thanasi Kokkinakis has also been granted a discretionary spot after missing this year’s Open due to glandular fever.
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The mayor of the northern beaches is calling for the lockdown over the southern section of his council to be lifted.
Michael Regan said the northern section of the northern beaches has seen the worst Covid-19 activity of the cluster, and noted that while the southern section had recorded cases, so too had venues in suburbs around Sydney.
Regan also pleaded for greater clarity of a pathway out of restrictions to give businesses certainty.
Regan told ABC News this morning:
We’re hoping to hear some reassurance and a timeline of when this is all going to be over, what are the steps or what additional steps need to be taken so that we can get ahead of this and play our role in keeping the community safe.
Regan said he was receiving a lot of feedback from residents, particularly in the southern section, who are “getting upset and agitated that we are doing the heavy lifting and we don’t see restrictions being eased”.
We are hoping to get more clarity and certainty, particularly for business.
The people in the south feel like we have a different set of rules. Why do we have to be different to the rest of, say, greater Sydney, where there has been outbreaks and some venues being named.
The 70,000 residents (north of the Narrabeen Bridge) split away from the 200,000 in the south, it is becoming a big deal. Greater Sydney having more freedom, despite venues named, we want fairness and evenhandedness in the decision-making process.
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Greg Hunt will offer the federal government’s take on NSW’s Covid-19 suppression efforts when he addresses the media this afternoon.
The federal health minister is due to front the media in Melbourne at 12.30pm AEDT.
Officially the press conference is to announce the listing of Darzalex – a medicine targeting a type of blood cancer – on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from 1 January, as mentioned here on the blog earlier today.
But Hunt’s office says the minister will also provide a Covid-19 update.
Hunt last week credited NSW authorities with doing “an incredible job” in preventing an increase in community transmission.
He’s likely to be asked about the vaccine rollout plans.
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Some good news for you, wherever you are in the country.
“There is no tsunami threat to Australia.”
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake has occurred off the coast of Chile.
— Bureau of Meteorology, Australia (@BOM_au) December 27, 2020
There is no tsunami threat to Australia. pic.twitter.com/avFJf3d3qt
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New Zealand media having some fun today:
No more pashing: Victoria bans New Year's Eve kissing https://t.co/HwyqtveIjI pic.twitter.com/P6YKnsa3gV
— nzherald (@nzherald) December 27, 2020
Dr Anthony Fauci, the head of the US coronavirus taskforce said that he believes the Covid-19 variant detected in the UK must be taken “very seriously” but is not likely to cause more serious illness or be resistant to vaccines.
Does it make someone more ill? Is it [a] more serious virus in the sense of virulence? And the answer is, it doesn’t appear to be that way.
Fauci backed the decision by US officials for people entering the US to require negative Covid tests. He told CNN’s State of the Union that the worst for the US was still yet to come in the pandemic.
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Crowds force Sydney beaches to close over weekend
According to Surf Life Saving New South Wales, large numbers of people led some beaches to be closed by councils over the weekend.
Despite swimming at beaches for exercise being allowed under the lockdown on the northern beaches, beachgoers were encouraged to stay at home because of the crowds.
SLS NSW said “Covid restrictions were an issue at some locations” on the northern beaches on the weekend.
SLS NSW also said on the South Coast at Batemans Bay and in parts of Wollongong, beaches were deemed to be overcrowded and restrictions were implemented.
SLS NSW chief executive Steven Pearce said lifesavers responded to a number of incidents, including 158 rescues conducted by volunteers throughout NSW.
Emergency incidents have been significant this weekend – 71 in total. There were 38 on Sunday alone.
Despite Covid-19 cases continuing on the Northern Beaches, SLS NSW said flags will be flying at beaches on Monday, with lifeguards providing patrols across the region.
Since 1 July, there have been 17 coastal drownings recorded in NSW waters.
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Byron Bay residents are “outraged” at unauthorised mass gatherings of about 300 people that police had to break up on the weekend, according to Byron Shire deputy mayor Michael Lyon.
In the early hours of Sunday morning, NSW police had to break up several gatherings, including parties at Main Beach and Belongil Beach after approximately 300 people gathered at each location.
About 200 people were dispersed and music equipment seized with 73 parking infringements issued, police said.
Lyon, speaking to ABC News this morning, said the partygoers were international students and backpackers, and that they showed “such a lack of respect”.
Our community is outraged.
It was started ... with the English language schools, because I understand it’s international students hiring the sound equipment. The word gets out to hostels and the backpackers find out.
This is not going [to be] a return to the days of the Byron party town. We worked hard over the last few years to get rid of that.
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Victoria records no new local cases of Covid-19
Yesterday there were 0 new local cases & 0 lives lost. 0 new cases were acquired interstate, 2 international. There are 11 active cases in quarantine or self-isolation. 5,880 test results were received. https://t.co/lIUrl0ZEco #COVID19Vic pic.twitter.com/Xe1IkFVLv0
— VicGovDHHS (@VicGovDHHS) December 27, 2020
Air New Zealand is considering following in Qantas’ example of requiring proof of a vaccination before flying.
“I’m sure every airline is doing that,” director Larry De Shon told the New Zealand Herald.
I know that several US airlines are working on apps on your phone to be able to prove that you have the vaccine.
Like Air NZ CEO Greg Foran, De Shon joined the airline in April in the worst-ever year for the aviation industry globally.
There’s no playbook for this, the industry hasn’t been through anything like this.
However he remained optimistic due to the reported efficacy of the vaccine and anecdotal reports from people wanting to visit New Zealand as soon as it was safe.
I’m hoping 2022 gets a lot closer to where we were pre-Covid. I think 2021 is going to be ramping back up month by month ... once the vaccines start to hit a large level of population and once we get some borders open.
De Shon likened the impact of Covid on travel to that of 9/11.
I remember these conversations after 9/11 that people will be afraid to fly and that they won’t travel as much ... but in the end people wanted to get back on the road and get face to face.
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New South Wales premier Gladys Berejiklian will provide a Covid-19 update at 11am.
Berejiklian could shed a light on what New Year’s Eve celebrations in Sydney will look like as early as today, as authorities continue efforts to quash the northern beaches cluster.
She will appear with NSW police assistant commissioner Mick Willing. Read into that what you will.
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New medicine targeting 'Achilles heel' of myeloma to be made available in 2021
Australians suffering from one of the most common blood cancers will soon be able to access a new medicine that mobilises the patient’s own immune system to fight the disease, reports AAP.
Darzalex will be listed on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme from 1 January, federal health minister Greg Hunt announced on Monday.
The medicine will be part of a second-line treatment for people with multiple myeloma, which is an incurable cancer of plasma cells found in bone marrow.
More than 2,000 people are diagnosed with the illness in Australia every year, and around 18,000 people are living with it at any one time. The five-year survival rate is just 51%.
The medicine “targets the Achilles heel of the myeloma cancer cell, while simultaneously activating the body’s immune system to attack the cancer,” he said.
This is the first time we have been able to directly target myeloma cancer cells, while also putting the immune system to work against the cancer.
A Darzalex script will cost $41.30, or $6.60 with a concession card. The medicine would otherwise cost up to $160,000.
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New South Wales health authorities updated again on Sunday its list of hotspots Covid-positive people have visited while infectious.
Those who attended some locations must isolate immediately for 14 days after you were last there, others must monitor for symptoms.
Here’s an overview and what to do if you’ve visited them.
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NSW police fine 11 people for North Bondi Boxing Day party
Here’s more on those coronavirus restrictions breaches I mentioned earlier, from AAP:
NSW police had to break up a party at North Bondi, fining 11 young people for failing to comply with Covid-19 rules.
At least 40 people were at the party and most ran away when officers arrived just after 11pm on Boxing Day.
Two women and nine men were fined $1,000 each for breaking Covid rules, which limit indoor gatherings to 10 visitors in greater Sydney.
Another man was fined on Christmas Day after he allegedly went from an unauthorised party at Bronte Beach to a gathering at Centennial Park that also exceeded coronavirus restrictions.
And a Newtown restaurant has been fined $5,000 after police attended on 23 December and learned that the owner did not have a Covid-safe plan.
Police said there were 27 people too many inside and a crowd outside and, while officers gave the owner an opportunity to reduce the number of people inside, the venue’s capacity was still exceeded.
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For all you tennis fans:
Andy Murray has been awarded a wildcard for February’s Australian Open.
“We welcome Andy back to Melbourne with open arms,” said the tournament director, Tennis Australia’s chief executive, Craig Tiley.
“His retirement was an emotional moment and seeing him come back, having undergone major surgery and built himself back up to get on to the tour again, will be a highlight of AO 2021,” Tiley said.
The main draw entry for the first grand slam of 2021 comes two years after the former world No 1 and five-times runner-up in Melbourne played what he feared would be his final match there, losing in the first round to Roberto Bautista Agut.
The Australian Open has been pushed back three weeks to start on 8 February because of Covid-19.
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EU launches mass vaccination as new Covid variant found in eight European countries
The EU has officially launched its program of mass vaccination against Covid-19, with the goal of making shots available to all its adult population by the end of 2021.
Meanwhile cases of the new coronavirus variant first detected in the UK were confirmed in at least eight European countries, piling further pressure on the vaccine campaign to help get the pandemic under control.
Yesterday South Australian health authorities also revealed they had detected the strain in a returned traveller who had tested positive to Covid-19. The traveller has been transferred from a medi-hotel to the Royal Adelaide hospital.
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It remains one of the most dramatically successful outcomes in the battle against Covid-19. A cheap treatment for inflammation was found to save lives of seriously ill patients while a trio of much-touted therapies were shown to have no effect.
Here’s my colleague Robin McKie on the breakthrough medicines that could change the course of Covid-19:
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Good morning, and welcome to the Australia news live blog for 28 December. I’m Elias Visontay. Here’s what’s making news this morning.
-Health authorities in New South Wales are racing to uncover the source behind a mystery case they hope will shine light on the initial northern beaches outbreak, as further cases with unknown transmission threaten Sydney’s new year’s eve. Five of the nine locally-acquired cases in NSW under investigation are people who live outside the northern beaches.
-Police in NSW have issued 15 infringement notices since Christmas Eve to Sydneysiders who have broken Covid-19 restrictions. The fines include 11 people who remained at a house party in North Bondi, after the majority of the party’s 40 visitors ran away when police arrived at the home on Saturday night. Two businesses have also received fines.
-NSW premier Gladys Berejiklian is expected to provide an update on the northern beaches coronavirus cluster this morning. On figures announced over the weekend, authorities noted a steep decline in daily testing numbers, from almost 70 decline in testing numbers - from about 70,000 on Christmas Eve to about 24,000 on Saturday.
-A woman who fled hotel quarantine in Perth has tested negative to Covid-19 after police found her at a Perth hospital. Western Australia’s health minister Roger Cook has blasted the traveller for making a dent in “fortress WA”, as she faces a fine of up to $50,000 or 12 months in prison.
If you want to get in touch, please send me an email to elias.visontay@theguardian.com or get in touch via Twitter @eliasvisontay.
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